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"The trend, internationally, is to have more restrictive copyright laws," said Maira Sutton, a global policy analyst with the Electronic Frontier Foundation who focuses on intellectual property. "What this statement does is, it allows affiliates to use their CC hat and say we're involved in this international coalition pushing to make copyright laws more sane."

Sutton said the statement could carry a lot of heft because of the organization's large affiliate base and its important standing. But as influential as Commons has been over the past decade, others remain skeptical that its words will carry any serious clout among lawmakers.